2 Entertain

The first BBC Video opening logo, used from 1980 to 1988.

BBC Video was established in 1980 as a division of BBC Enterprises (later BBC Worldwide) with John Ross Barnard at the head.

At launch, the BBC had no agreement with British talent unions such as Equity or the Musician's Union (MU), so BBC Video was limited in the television programming it could release. Initially, video cassette and laser-disc releases were either programmes with no Equity or MU involvement, such as natural history and other documentaries, or material licensed from third parties, including feature films such as High Noon and the first video release of Deep Purple's California Jam concert.

For the first few years, the BBC produced videotapes in both VHS and Beta-max formats. The company also worked with Philips on early Laserdisc releases, including a notable ornithology disc called British Garden Birds, presented by David Attenborough. This disc was published in 1982 and included digital data in the form of Teletext, which could be read by any suitably-equipped television. This pioneering use of a data channel on a consumer video format led directly to the development of the BBC Domesday Project in 1984–1986. Since videos could have stereo soundtracks, BBC Video produced stereophonic versions of many programmes that had been broadcast in mono. These included The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (although release was delayed for lack of an Equity agreement) and the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer.

By 1982, an agreement had been reached with the Musicians' Union and this led to some popular music releases (including compilations by John Martyn and Tom Robinson).

The label grew significantly from £13 million turnover in 1989 to nearly £39 million in 1994. In 1991, BBC Video was the number-one video label in the UK when it sold more prerecorded videotapes, by value as well as by unit count, than any other company, including all of the Hollywood studios combined.

BBC Video was well known for its releases of David Attenborough, Pride and Prejudice, The Human Body, Dinnerladies, Walking with Dinosaurs, The Goodies, Dad's Army, Yes Minister, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Only Fools and Horses, Last of the Summer Wine, Wallace & Gromit, Postman Pat, Fireman Sam, Pingu, The Office, Red Dwarf and Doctor Who.

Video Collection International was a video company based in London, England. It was opened in 1984. Originally part of the Prestwich Group, based in New Southgate, London, the company was subject to a management buyout headed by Steve Ayres CEO and Paddy Toomey (ex-Woolworths) as MD. The vision of "sell through video" was born with the strong Woolworths association driving the retail sales. With these individuals at the helm, the company expanded rapidly, securing the market lead in retail video sales throughout the mid to late 1980s and into the early to mid-1990s. Video Collection International merged with Thames Video a year later in 1985, forming the Thames Video Collection label.

In 1986, the company had inked a deal with Karl/Lorimar Home Video whereas VCI would release the kidvid product by Karl/Lorimar, including children's family and special interest videos and also released through Scholastic/Lorimar Home Video.[3]

By the Late-1980's, the company began partnerships with Central Independent Television and Channel 4, launching the Central Video and Channel 4 Video labels in the process, and also had a distribution agreement with independent company Silver Vision. The compamy would later launch the Cinema Club brand within the Mid-90's. The Cinema Club label mainly consisted of re-releases of films from the late 1960s and early 1970s and also had licensing agreements with Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures to re-release their films. The company would later change it's brand from "The Video Collection" to VCI in 1995. At its peak VCI plc consisted of Video Collection Ltd, Music Collection Ltd, André Deutsch (book publisher) and Disc Distribution. In 1999 the business was sold to the Kingfisher Group.

By the Late-90's, the company signed a deal with Granada plc, and launched the Granada Media, which would later become the label of choice for ITV shows produced under Granada-owned regions. In 1999, the company expanded their Channel 4 deal with a launch of a "FilmFour" video label. In 1999, VCI began releasing DVDs of their products. around this time, the company split into two arms: publishing (VCI) based in Dean Street, London, and VCI Distribution, which also handled third-party distribution for labels outside its own stable, based in Watford and the old premises in New Southgate. In 2001, VCI became part of the Woolworths Group as a result of the demerger from the Kingfisher Group.

VCI is perhaps most well known as the main home video distributor of both ITV and Channel 4 television programmes such as Thomas & Friends, Black Books, Drop the Dead Donkey, Peep Show, Jeeves and Wooster, So Graham Norton, Men Behaving Badly, V Graham Norton, Spaced, Shameless, Father Ted, Mr. Bean, Traffik, Emmerdale, Brass Eye, Da Ali G Show and Coronation Street. Some BBC programmes (the early series of My Family were one example) were also released by VCI.

Confusion often arose between this UK-based company, and the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based home video label VCI Entertainment, founded in 1976 by Bill Blair. Perhaps as a result of this, when VCI entered the American market in the early 1990s, they went under the name of Strand VCI Entertainment, and then Strand Home Video; this operation was sold in 1993 to budget video label Video Treasures (later a core component of Anchor Bay Entertainment), who completed the label's absorption in 1994.

On July 12, 2004, Woolworths Group PLC and BBC Worldwide announced a new joint-venture company called 2 Entertain, which their existing home video units would merge into. BBC Worldwide would hold 60% ownership, while Woolworths would hold 40%.[4] The merger was completed by September of that year.[5]

Around this time, Granada plc merged with Carlton Communications, and soon ended their deal with the ex-VCI company in order to distribute under Carlton's home media unit, which was renamed to Granada Ventures, and currently operates as ITV Ventures Limited. Channel 4 also began self-releasing titles on DVD themselves under the brand name Channel 4 DVD around the same time, later eventually go on to have their DVDs released by Spirit Entertainment, though still using Channel 4 DVD branding.

In December 2006, 2 Entertain renewed their US distribution agreement with Warner Home Video.[6]

In March 2010, BBC Worldwide acquired Woolworths Group's 40% stake in 2 Entertain from the latter's administrators, making it a fully owned subsidiary.[7]

As of November 2013, the 2 Entertain is currently used as a label for non-BBC broadcast content, although it remains a standalone legal entity of BBC Studios.

In March 2022, BBC Studios Home Entertainment signed a distribution deal with British distributor Spirit Entertainment to represent its physical catalogue in the United Kingdom.[8]